


A Gift From a Friend

by FictionalKnight (Northern_Star)



Series: Friends in High Places [1]
Category: DCU
Genre: Crossover, Developing Friendships, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-07
Updated: 2009-07-07
Packaged: 2018-03-04 10:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3065015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Star/pseuds/FictionalKnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Batman helps Superman understand where he comes from.</p><p>TDK/Birthright crossover</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gift From a Friend

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant for the [Barbarians writing exercise](http://community.livejournal.com/superhero_muses/82259.html) at [](http://superhero-muses.livejournal.com/profile)[superhero_muses](http://superhero-muses.livejournal.com/) but... I missed the deadline. :( I typed it up in the car, on the way to Valdez, but of course, there wasn't really any internet access along the way. Heh. Also, this is meant to be part of a series that is still just a WIP on my HD, and I haven't posted the first part to yet... lol!

Superman stood before the impressive array of screens and computers, down in what had once been Lex Luthor's secret laboratory.

Earlier that morning, Superman been handed a note which told him, in a very cryptic manner, that there was something down there that might interest him. The note wasn't signed and, for a moment, Superman had thought maybe it was a trap... but curiosity had gotten the best of him. With the enemy disposed of, what did he have to be afraid of? He had powers beyond the wildest imagination, after all, didn't he?

As the screens flickered to life, Superman couldn't help but marvel at the fact that these were even working at all. The rest of the lab had all but been destroyed... It must have taken someone - or a group of someones - an incredible amount of work to get this back into working order.

As images quickly started flashing across the entire array of monitors - different images on every one - Superman's jaw hung opened in astonishment.

The footage that Lex had shown him a few days ago, footage from Krypton - Superman's home planet - it was still there. It was still accessible, it was intact!

Or almost...

The translation that had once accompanied the original words was now missing. Superman tried fiddling with the computer controls, tried to get the translation back, but it just wouldn't come.

Just like that, he was back to square one: he had bits and pieces of his people's history, but he couldn't understand a word of it at all. The answers he sought, the knowledge he craved, he might never gain. Sure, Lex had somehow found a way to translate the contents - but Lex was a genius, and however smart Clark Kent was, he just couldn't rival with his old "friend" in that regard.

Though it pained him to know that these people were gone now, that Krypton had been destroyed, and that he would likely never get a chance to know it, or understand any of it, Superman couldn't help stand there and look.

All of a sudden, on one screen, he saw a couple, holding a small child in their arms, and placing him inside a tiny ship - a ship he recognized. Everything immediately became quite clear. The child he was seeing was himself, and the couple, his parents.

"If only I could understand," Superman said, bowing his head down. He knew their faces now, but he would never know their names, nor the one they had given him.

A low, gravely voice came from somewhere to his left. "I believe that word meant 'son'," said Batman as he walked out of the shadows. "I might be able to help you translate it. If you'll let me, of course."

Superman blinked in surprise. "It was you? But how...? Why?"

"I hear that's what friends do," Batman explained, "Help each other."

"I thought you didn't have any friends?" Superman said, a touch of amusement in his voice.

Batman's lips curled up in the tiniest of smiles. "Now I do." He stepped up to the console and hit a button to pause the displays. "Let's see what we can learn of Krypton, shall we?"

=> End.


End file.
